This invention relates to brackets for mounting vehicle meter housings (hereinafter referred to merely as "mounting brackets", when applicable).
For instance, in the case of a set-in type vehicle meter, as its meter housing is inserted into the instrument panel through an opening provided therefore, its connectors and cables are engaged with the mating connectors provided on the instrument panel: that is, the connection of the connectors and cables are achieved at the same time when the insertion of the meter housing into the instrument panel is accomplished.
In this operation, mounting brackets on the periphery of the meter housing are aligned with brackets formed on the instrument panel. Under this condition, with the hands inserted from outside, screws are engaged with speed nuts mounted on the brackets, so that the meter housing is fixedly secured to the instrument housing.
However, it should be noted that the above-described operation is carried out with the socket, plug and connectors being not observed: that is, they are connected by intuition. Therefore, in the operation, the meter housing is held by the fingers which are inserted into the narrow space between the hosing and the opening of the instrument panel. However, in this case, the meter housing is not sufficiently held by the fingers, because it has no suitable supporting means. Accordingly, it will take a relatively long time for the hands or fingers to retract from the meter housing thus inserted, and at worst the fingers may be caught therein.
After the meter housing has been fixedly inserted into the instrument panel, it cannot be pulled out without application of great power, because the connectors, etc. are strongly joined together.
Accordingly, there has been a strong demand for an improvement of the meter housing so that it can be readily combined with the instrument panel. On the other hand, in practice, it is impossible to provide large supporting means for the meter housing, because the periphery of the meter housing is set inside the opening of the instrument panel when the meter housing is inserted into the instrument panel.